Researchers say data strengthens case for holding firms to account for their contribution to climate crisis

Summary

Half of the world’s CO2 emissions in 2023 came from just 36 fossil fuel companies, including Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, and Shell, according to a new report.

These firms produced over 20 billion tonnes of CO2, worsening the climate crisis despite global commitments to reduce emissions.

State-owned enterprises, especially in China, also dominate the list.

The findings support legal efforts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate damage. Experts warn that continued fossil fuel expansion contradicts net-zero goals, as 2023 was the hottest year on record.

  • CatoblepasEnglish
    3·
    19 hours ago

    The report found that the 36 major fossil fuel companies, including Saudi Aramco, Coal India, ExxonMobil, Shell and numerous Chinese companies, produced coal, oil and gas responsible for more than 20bn tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2023.

    [ . . . ]

    The 36 companies are dominated by state-owned enterprises, of which there are 25. Ten of these are in China, the world’s biggest polluting country. Coal was the source of 41% of the emissions counted in 2023, oil 32%, gas 23% and cement 4%.

    Based on the inclusion of coal and gas, it sounds like this was measuring things burned for energy. I can’t imagine they were going for lifetime emissions of all products if coal is the clear leader (is that globally or for China? The sentence structure is ambiguous to me).